Every Angle
by Thomson
Summary: What would have happened if Toph had let Zuko help her when he burned her feet?  Alternate story of The Western Air Temple.  Sort of.  What will happen when Combustion Man shows up and Zuko can't resist playing the hero?


Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender. Nope, no funny comments today. Or is there?

A/N: Yeah, I do not make sense. So this is an idea of mine I wanted to try it out, though it's a little messy. I may continue this if I get enough feedback. Please read and review! Enjoy…

"I'm sorry! It was an accident!" Zuko ran after Toph, apologizing frantically. He hadn't meant to hurt her. But she would not listen. She kept running, and earthbending backwards towards him to keep him away.

"Get away from me!" She yelled. Any chance he had had to appeal to her, or to any of the Gaang was gone.

"Wait! Please! I didn't mean to burn you!" He called to her desperately. She tripped over her pained feet and fell with a cry. He ran and kneeled by her, placing his hands on her shoulders to help her up. She immediately dodged him and flung back with a thrust of rock. He landed hard on his back in the dirt. Zuko sat up with difficulty and said,

"Let me help you!"

Toph only stumbled to her feet, but wavered and fell, totally unable to walk. Zuko got up and again went to her. This time he stood a little ways from her to be safe.

"Believe me, I know how it is to get burned. I can help you."

"I was going to give you chance, and you burned me! Why should I let you?"

"I said it before: I've changed. Please just give me a chance. I have healing salve in my bag, and I can carry you back to the temple." He said nervously. He really hoped he wasn't blowing it.

"Well…just don't try anything or you'll be sorry."

"Has anyone seen Toph?" Katara asked as she cooked breakfast. Sokka replied,

"Not since she stormed off yesterday."

"I think we should go look for her." Aang agreed.

Suddenly, the sound of heavy footsteps echoed through the main outdoor chamber of the temple. They all turned and saw a scarred teen carrying a small bundle of earthbender in his arms. They immediately all slipped into fighting stances and faced their enemy. Katara screamed,

"Toph! What have you done to her? You monster!"

Toph shifted her weight in Zuko's arms so she was facing her friends.

"Katara, I'm fine."

"Put her down, now!" Sokka said angrily. Zuko bowed his head in submission and lowered Toph to the ground. As soon as he let go, Katara slammed a block of ice into him, knocking him against a pillar, and refreezing the water to hold him there.

"We warned you not to come back here!" She screamed at him.

"What did you do to her?" Said Aang.

"Her feet are burned!" Yelled Sokka. Aang rounded on Zuko "You firebended at her!"

"Your going to pay for hurting her!" Sokka growled.

"Wait, you guys," Toph began, but no one was listening. Zuko exclaimed,

"Just let me explain-" Then Aang cried out,

"How could you possibly explain this?"

But Zuko wasn't looking at him. Something far off in the cliffs had caught his eye. It was a man whom Zuko was ashamed to recognize: the assassin. But as soon as he had the realization he saw the man breathe in and plunged his forehead towards them, aiming for the Avatar.

"MOVE!" Zuko yelled at the top of his lungs. Just as he did so, the sound of explosives came whistling towards them. The Gaang all scattered just in time. The base of a pillar not far from where Zuko was trapped exploded, sending bits of rock and dirt flying through the air. Sokka stood just behind where Zuko was trapped, and as the assassin sent more explosions at them, the Firenation boy yelled at him,

"What are you doing? Get out of here!"

More explosions echoed around them. Sokka almost ran to join his friends across the way, but he turned back to Zuko, and said with a strange note of concern in his voice.

"Can't you melt the ice or something?"

Zuko grunted with effort; he had almost worked one arm free of the ice bindings. He broke it through and said,

"Yeah, well it takes awhile. Your sister's gotten better since the North Pole."

Sokka frowned at him and said,

"But Combustion Man is destroying the temple NOW."

"Then by all means, help." The firebender grunted. Sokka took his machete and began to chip away at the ice.

"What are you doing?" Katara yelled to her brother. "Come on, Sokka!"

Just as she said it, Combustion Man fired at the two boys. Zuko, always thinking on his feet grabbed Sokka with his free arm and flung him behind the pillar, to safety. The force exploded feet away, and Sokka shielded himself with both arms. Zuko was not so lucky, and he was struck by the flying rocks, once across the face and twice on his torso. Those, at least, were the only hard enough to do any real damage. With a surge of anger, Zuko let fire erupt from his palms where they were trapped in the ice, and it all shattered at once. He grabbed Sokka's arm and yanked him towards the interior of the temple where the rest of the Gaang hid out of range.

"Come on!" The firebender yelled, frantic. He pushed the watertribe boy ahead of him; they ran and ducked towards safety, trying to avoid Combustion Man's line of fire. They just barely avoided another explosion when they reached the shelter of the stone wall. Sokka panted,

"Now what?"

"I'd waterbend at him but he'd blow me up the second I got out there!" Katara said, exasperated.

"You'd better do something soon; he's going to blow the whole temple off the mountain!" Toph cried.

"I'll do it." Aang said, surely. Before they could stop him, he rushed out and began to blast air at the enemy. Katara yelled,

"Aang no! It's too dangerous!" But he kept on the fight; he was locked in battle with the fierce fire bender, and things were not going well.

"I'm going to help him!" Katara cried. Sokka held her back and told her not to risk getting killed, Aang could fight his own battles. Though from the looks of it, he _would_ need help before long. Combustion man suddenly sent a strong strike at Aang, and he was thrown backward by the blast, crashing into a pillar. He wobbled, thrown off balance. His head took a hard hit. Now he was dizzy and unfocused, and vulnerable to attack.

"We have to help him!" Katara screamed. Zuko grabbed her arm and said,

"Don't!" She yanked her arm away and spat at him,

"I knew you couldn't be trusted! I knew you hadn't changed! You were just waiting for a chance to get Aang killed!"

Zuko made no comment but quickly darted out into the open to help the airbender. He didn't care about taking the risk anymore. They might hate him, but he wasn't going to let them die because of him. He cursed himself for ever having sent that assassin after them.

Combustion Man again fired at Aang. But this time Zuko saw that the boy could not move fast enough to get out of the way. So he did what he had to do. He ran forward and tackled Aang to the ground, pushing him out of the line of fire and shielding the boy with his body.

"Zuko?" Aang asked, still bleary and confused. The pillar exploded, and the rocks started to crash down around them. Zuko thought quickly and pulled Aang up to his feet. But before he could pull him back towards safety, another blast landed right in front of Zuko. He was hurtled back, and back, farther than the expanse of the stone pillars. He fell and skidded right over the edge of the temple's stone base. Beyond that was only emptiness.

"Zuko!" Aang yelled. He stared at where the boy had disappeared. He was gone; the firebender was lost over the side and had probably fallen to his death. Aang pulled himself away and ran back to cover. But more fire was shot out and Aang had to drop to the stone floor to avoid getting blasted apart.

"Aang!" Sokka yelled. He turned to the girls. "We've got to stop Combustion Man, NOW!"

"If I could just get a good angle on him," Katara began. Sokka pulled out his boomerang, studied it and said,

"I think I could get an angle on him." With that he hurled the boomerang out; it flew true, and soon they heard the loud thud of the weapon against flesh, and it came spiraling back where Sokka caught it.

One last, great explosion signaled the end of Combustion Man. The friends helped Aang to his feet, but Aang quickly parted with them and ran towards the edge, meanwhile murmuring,

"Oh no. Zuko."

He looked over and was shocked to see the fire bender there, clinging to a vine desperately, lest he should fall into the deep canyon below him.

"Zuko!" Aang cried. "You're alive!" The firebender just looked up at the boy pleadingly and grunted,

"Help. Please."

The Gaang gathered around and hoisted Zuko up until he fell panting onto the solid rock of the temple.

"I never thought I'd be saying this, but thanks Zuko." Aang said, now smiling though still surprised by the firebender's actions. Zuko nodded wearily and then got slowly to his feet. He looked them each in the eye, even Toph's blind ones as he said,

"I know I have a lot to atone for, but please, give me another chance. Let me teach the Avatar firebending. I can help you defeat the Firelord. Please, I know now that this is my destiny. I just want to play my part in ending this war."

They all stood looking at him, all unsure of what to say, but Aang finally stated,

"I think you _are supposed to be my teacher, Zuko." He turned to the others and said, "But it depends on what the rest of you think. Toph?"_

_Zuko looked nervously at the little earth bender. He had burned her, and he doubted she would let that go very easily. But she surprised him by smirking and saying,_

"_Oh sure, let him join. Then I'll have plenty of time for payback." She said, regarding her feet. She punched her hand to accentuate the point. Zuko raised his eyebrow in false concern; of all of them he was certain the earthbender got along with him the best. After all, you don't carry someone around all day without getting to know them a little better._

_Next, Aang asked Sokka. The watertribe boy studied Zuko carefully before saying,_

"_Yeah. I mean, he practically saved all of us today without a thought for himself. I think that's at least a good start for making things up to us."_

_Aang nodded. He asked hesitantly,_

"_Katara?" She crossed her arms._

"_I don't know…If you really think it's the right choice, Aang, I'll go along with it. But I still don't trust him." _

_Zuko bowed his head a little. That was all he could have expected from her. Though still, they definitely didn't seem to want to kill him, and by the looks of it were actually going to accept him._

"_Okay." Said Aang. "You can travel with us, and teach me firebending."_

"_But you're still not one of us." Katara added coolly. Zuko nodded. Again, it made sense, but it still hurt a little. He was trying to do the right thing after all. And if they didn't accept him, who would?_


End file.
